I know I’ve been negligent about posting recently, but I promise I’m coming back soon. I’m reposting these Hamantashen because they are so good no one will ever suspect they are gluten free! Click here for the recipe.

Let’s start with the question “are potatoes paleo?” If you google that, you will find many different answers ( a good article is found here http://paleoleap.com/are-white-potatoes-paleo/). When I started paleo, the answer was pretty much “no” BUT sweet potatoes are okay. This didn’t suit my sense of logic because if we are discussing the diet of Mr. and Mrs. Ugh, if they ate potatoes at all, they probably did not distinguish between the two…and they certainly didn’t eliminate the white potato merely because it was too high on the glycemic index. As time passed, many in the paleo community seemed to soften on the white potato issue. I use potatoes as a starchy vegetable and try to avoid the clearly non-paleo versions like potato chips and French fries (I confess I’m not totally successful at this) and I don’t indulge in potatoes daily. But when I do, I love this fairly healthy (it does have lots of oil in it) version of mashed potatoes

When I first gave up dairy, I would never have dreamed I would prefer mashed potatoes made with olive oil over those made with lots of butter and cream. But that is indeed the case. These mashed potatoes are smooth and rich with added layers of flavor from the broth in which the potatoes are cooked as well as the freshness from the chopped herbs.

The amount of olive oil you want to use in the potatoes will depend on how “tasty” your extra virgin olive oil is (and for this you must use extra virgin). You will need less of a very fruity/flavorful olive oil than of a bland one. Start with 2 tablespoons of oil, then add more until you have the flavor profile that you like best.

I’m going to my cousin’s house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. In self defense I offered to bring the pumpkin bread so that it would be Paleo. I have to confess/brag that I don’t think anyone there will even know that it is anything other than a regular pumpkin bread.

This has always been my favorite dish to order when I’m having a meal at an Indian restaurant (or when I’m ordering in from one). It’s probably one of the only savory dishes I make that doesn’t contain either onion or garlic – which means I can serve it to my friend who is allergic to both.

Usually you find Aloo Gobi (cauliflower and potatoes) on restaurant menus but I like the texture and color that the peas (matar) contribute to the dish. Though I like the peas, if you are strictly paleo you may want to leave them out. When cooking this, it’s hard to tell how juicy your tomatoes are going to become, so you may or may not need additional water. Using boiling potatoes will ensure that your potato cubes remain pretty intact. You don’t want mashed potatoes; you want the dish to be just a little saucy.

Aloo Gobi Matar

Stir this dish occasionally as it cooks to make sure the liquid doesn’t evaporate completely.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Ground red pepper to taste

2 tablespoons water + additional if necessary

3 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup cubed new red or Yukon gold (boiling) potatoes

1 cup tomato wedges

1/2 cup peas, optional

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro + additional for garnish

Salt to taste

In a 3-quart pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the ginger and cook, stirring 30 seconds.

What is company salad? Salad that is a little too bothersome to make for just myself (too many ingredients, too much prep time, or too expensive) but is perfect to impress company. So who did I want to impress with this salad?

Let’s take a step back. Those of you who know me well may want to sit down before reading on…I went out of town this weekend. Shocking, I know. It’s only taken me ten years to leave the city and visit my friend Lorraine and her husband Pete at their home on one of the finger lakes in upstate New York.

I got there Friday night and the visit was timed so I could attend the Howard Day Parade, an annual event that Lorraine, as town librarian, participates in. It was a short but sweet parade, a bunch of tractors, vintage cars, the library group and a float from the Howard Historical Society.

The next event was a dance recital followed by cake in the library. It was fun meeting the library staff and other of Lorraine’s friends. Following the recital was the annual “chicken lunch” served in a local hall (we took ours home to eat).

Then Pete drove us to a wonderful farm stand they frequent. The tomatoes were divine, we bought beautiful wax beans, sweet-sweet blueberries and I can’t remember what else.

Being a good guest, I brought them NYC bagels and a brisket (I think a good brisket is really hard to find). So Saturday night I was the cook. In addition to the brisket we had fresh local corn, Roasted Green Beans with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar (that I posted 2 weeks ago) and Company Salad.

When I started to prepare the dinner we discovered that the wax beans (I was using the yellow beans instead of the green beans) had either been left at the farm stand or lost somewhere on the way home. Pete insisted on going back to the farm stand to get more beans for us.

Lucky for me Lorraine has a home filled with lots of healthy goodies. She had a pile of beets she had roasted before I came, avocados that were ripe, 2 oranges (though I used just one of them), a few lovely bing cherries, and a box of organic salad greens. Of course she had lots of other things I could also have used but I was really good about editing myself.

The pistachios were the only thing I wanted that wasn’t in the house so we called Pete and asked if he would pick up the nuts while he was getting the beans.

Another recipe straight from my expedition to the farmer’s market . The green beans just looked too perfect to pass up and the grape tomatoes were sweet as candy. These are great served warm or cold and are another of those recipes perfect to bring to a picnic or pot luck.

I’m feeling kind of stuck here for a longer narrative to share with you about this recipe or these ingredients, but this is just a straight forward recipe I created because I had great ingredients on hand.

It may not be an especially beautiful dish but it’s taste makes up for its looks. You’ll love it – really!

Cook outs, picnics, barbecues, pot lucks. Summer is the ideal time of year for entertaining and parties. I have a dim memory of having a salad something like this at my friend Paula’s house for Thanksgiving. She said she was tired of all the standard sweet potato recipes and made this salad instead. I thought the combination of ingredients was amazingly delicious – which is why I remember it all these years later – but I am sad to report it ‘s not a good vehicle for the roasted marshmallows that usually come along with sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving.

How did I get side tracked from summer entertaining? I brought this salad with me to a pot luck and it was a BIG hit. In fact, although I say it serves 6 to 8 – it was completely polished off by six women of a certain age. The good news is this recipe is easily doubled if you are cooking for a crowd.

With summer completely here there’s nothing nicer than a chilled soup to start a meal or have as a snack.

I was sitting in my allergists waiting room with nothing in particular to do. Usually her magazine rack is filled with sports stuff and gossip magazines – none of which interest me. This week, however, she had a copy of the Food Network Magazine. I was thrilled to see it as I’ve had a “special offer” from them sitting on my “to do” pile for weeks. I wasn’t sure I wanted or needed another food magazine especially since most of the recipes in these publications are not suitable for a paleo diet.

One of the articles featured 3 different gazpacho recipes. I was interested in that article because most of the authentic recipes include plenty of bread. I was delighted to find that these did not. In fact they were very nice and slightly unusual. Two of the recipes included grapes – something that I would never have thought using, but upon reflection seemed an interesting idea. The recipe for green gazpacho also included avocado.

It’s not that often I am inspired to run home and try something I’ve seen in a magazine, but since Fairway is just a few steps away from my allergist’s office, I stopped in and picked up the necessary ingredients and Voila!

I think this is a pretty delicious form of gazpacho. The grapes give it a subtle sweetness and the avocado a really creamy texture. The toasted almonds (I know they don’t look toasted in the photo, but trust me – they are)

There are two distinctly different schools of thought on matzoh brie. The first, which I think is the more common of the two, is scrambled eggs with softened (with water) torn matzoh stirred in. Sometimes there are also vegetables and savory stuff included.

I come from the second school of matzoh brie. Pancakes. I actually never knew that the first school existed until I was already well into adulthood and ordered matzoh brie at a restaurant. Image how disappointed I was to be served a plate of scrambled eggs! I confess I might have been rude to the waitress about not bringing me the right order but the manager came to disabuse me of MY mistake.

Through all these years I have stuck to my version of matzoh brie and whenever I invite friends over during Passover, this is what I serve. In all modesty, this is the best matzoh brie anyone has ever tasted (even this Paleo one).

The toppings are also personal preferences (read that as: whatever your mother served it to you with). My mom served it with cinnamon-sugar. In this I have deviated as I really like it with maple syrup or sometimes apricot preserves. No matter what you eat it with…these are a real treat. Enjoy!Continue reading Paleo Matzoh Brie→

Last Passover my friend Hadley and I decided to have a leftovers dinner. Since we each held a seder in our homes, we were unable to attend the other’s seder and this way we could at least taste what the other had served.

Now, not to be boastful, I am an awesome cook and the food at my seder was amazing. We both made pot roast from brisket and used approximately the same recipe so that was a wash. Our Tzimmes’ were both delicious in different ways – mine had a very deep richness and Hadley’s had a fresh quality to it that I liked (so much that I’ve made it for this year).

Our menus diverged at the kugels. I made a matzoh kugel using matzoh farfel, chopped carrots, onions, celery, and parsnip. I moistened it with vegetable broth and olive oil and seasoned it with salt, pepper, chopped parsley and dill, and poultry seasoning. This dish has been a hit for the past 15 years – but then I tasted Hadley’s potato kugel and I was blown away. It was the best potato kugel I had ever tasted. The other thing about it was it’s paleo and I can eat it!